Active clinical trials for "Neoplasms"

This trial studies how well 4 dimensional (D) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) works in diagnosing participants with lung or colorectal cancer that has spread to the liver and lung. Diagnostic procedures, such as PET/CT, may help find and diagnose disease and find out how far the disease has spread. But the motions made by breathing can reduce the image quality of the scan. Adjusting the scanner to 4D may allow for more breathing motion may improve the quality of the PET/CT images.

This laboratory study is collecting tumor tissue and blood samples from patients with gynecologic tumors. Collecting and storing samples of tumor tissue and blood from patients with cancer to study in the laboratory may help in the study of cancer.

A centralized web-based database will be used to track patients with IPMN lesions of the pancreas to study natural history and risk factors for malignant transformation in this multi-center study.

The primary objective is to compare the diagnostic performance of 18F- Fluoride PET/CT scanning to that of conventional bone scanning for detecting cancer that has spread to the bone (bone metastasis). The intent of the study is to determine whether 18F-Fluoride PET/CT will lead to improved treatment and patient outcomes.

Colon and rectal cancer is the second most prevalent malignant disease in the western world, causing significant morbidity, mortality, and healthcare sources use. Treating colon and rectal cancer with curative intent generally includes resection of the primary tumor. Despite its crucial role, surgery by itself induce physiological changes resulting in significant immune depression and other physiological perturbations, which may in turn play a significant role in the initiation of new metastases and the progression of pre-existing dormant metastases. The aim of this study is to assess the use of perioperative medical intervention using a combination of a β-adrenergic blocker (Propranolol) and a COX2 inhibitor (Etodolac), in order to attenuate the surgically induced immunosuppression and other physiological perturbations, aiming to reduce the rate of tumor recurrence and distant metastatic disease.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is an aggressive disease with limited therapeutic options. Therefore, new approaches to treat this type of cancer are needed with immunotherapy potentially being one of these. As a first step in the development of novel therapies, expression analysis of specific markers, including tumor antigens will be carried out, and the correlation of expression with disease variables and clinical outcome will be assessed. This will be done retrospectively using archived hepatocellular carcinoma tissue samples.

One of the most important and unique characteristics of infantile hemangiomas is their dramatic growth during early infancy. Most hemangiomas are either absent at birth or barely evident as a small scratch or bruise-like area. A recent study emphasized how early hemangioma growth occurs. In this study by 3 months of age, hemangiomas had reached 80% of their final size, and by 5 months of age, 80% had already stopped growing. Unfortunately the average age when most infants are seen by specialists is often at 5 months of age or later, a time when most growth is already completed. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, the Medical College of Wisconsin, and at the Mayo Clinic are interested in studying hemangioma growth at even earlier ages, before 3 months of age, which is before most patients are ever seen by dermatologists or other specialists. For this study are requesting that parents of children older than 3 months of age with hemangiomas send us a series of photographs of their child which demonstrates this early growth. Ideally the photographs would show your child (including the area of the hemangioma of course) at weekly or every other week intervals up until age least 3 to 6 months of age. This will probably not be difficult if the hemangioma is on the face but we would be interested in other body locations as well, if available. We are using these photographs to analyze early hemangioma growth patterns, to see if there is a period of especially rapid growth, and to help determine if there is a specific time before which specialty referral should occur. We are interested in all sizes of hemangiomas, from small to large. Of greatest importance is that the photos be at frequent intervals (every 1 to 2 weeks is ideal) and of sufficient quality to be able to evaluate the appearance of the hemangioma.

This K07 Career Development Award application is designed to expand Dr. Dennis career development from cancer etiology to cancer prevention and control. The career development plan rests on mentoring directed by experts in cancer prevention research and protected time to foster my professional development as an independent cancer control researcher. A unique population, the Agricultural Health Study (AHS) cohort, will be used to examine sun exposure, sun protection behavior, and factors affecting these behaviors regarding the risk of melanoma in private pesticide applicators (farmers) and their spouses. The research plan proposed to examine skin melanoma within this prospective cohort of private applicators (mostly farmers) and their spouses in Iowa and North Carolina (the AHS) in association with environmental factors. Specific aim 1 examined the risk of melanoma in the AHS cohort using various existing measures of sun exposure adjusted for skin sensitivity and sun protection. Subsequently (for aim 2) qualitative research methods were used to design appropriate measures of sun exposure, sun protection behavior, and factors affecting these behaviors in private applicators and their spouses within the AHS based on the cohort analyses. Now Aim 3 will be completed by conducting a nested case-control study of melanoma within the AHS cohort to examine in more detail sun exposure histories and protective behavior. The questionnaire was designed based on findings from the cohort analyses (aim 1) and qualitative methods (aim 2). The risk of melanoma will be examined regarding: a) the complex relationship of cumulative (sun exposure during each decade of life) and intermittent sun exposure (sunburns and sunny vacations), b) factors affecting behavior including attitudes about sun exposure and prevention, and c) the use of tanning salons and sunless tanning creams, particularly in spouses (expected to be rare overall). The final aim is to use the results from the cohort and nested case-control studies to design a behavioral intervention, along with short computer automated telephone interview (CATI) that can be used in the whole AHS cohort or other farming populations. Funding for such studies will be sought through the R01) mechanism as an independent cancer control researcher. The behavioral intervention will be based on those factors that are the strongest risk factors for melanoma, highly prevalent, and easily modifiable. The behavioral intervention will be designed based on knowledge and skill gained from the Career Development Plan goals.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the tumors with an increasing incidence worldwide. Often treatment possibilities are limited and only palliative treatment such as a transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE) is possible. Therapeutic response is evaluated three months after TACE by imaging techniques (CT, MRI). In some HCC patients the tumor marker AFP ( alpha-fetoprotein) is elevated, but not all patients show this elevation. In the last years new tumor markers such as AFP-L3 (subfraction of AFP) and des-y-carboxyprothrombin (DCP) have been examined. In this clinical trial the course of these markers are examined after TACE in order to receive hints if the patient will be a therapeutic responder. Furthermore the investigators are interested in the quality of life after TACE. Patients receive a questionnaire with regard to the quality of life before and 3 months after TACE.

Overall Objective: The overall objective of this cross-sectional psychosocial study is to examine illness-related factors, family context factors, and child resiliency as predictors or correlates of child adjustment to leukemia treatment. Primary Objective 1: 1(a): To examine illness-related factors (i.e., child's health and physical functioning and severity of the child's illness) as predictors of child psychological adjustment to leukemia. 1(b): To examine relapse status as a grouping variable affecting child psychological adjustment to leukemia. 1(c): To examine stage of treatment as a grouping variable affecting child psychological adjustment to leukemia. Primary Objective 2: -To examine family context factors (i.e., family psychosocial risk and parental emotional distress) as correlates of child psychosocial adjustment to leukemia treatment. Primary Objective 3: -To examine child resiliency as a predictor of child psychological adjustment to leukemia treatment. Secondary Objectives: One secondary objective of the study is to examine parental distress as a moderator affecting parental report of child adjustment to leukemia as compared to the child's self-report of adjustment. Another secondary objective of the study is to develop a model by which the relative contribution of each predictor variable (as determined by analyses of primary objectives) as well as their interrelatedness can be understood in relation to child psychosocial adjustment. A third secondary objective of the study is to examine demographic variables as covariates in the main analyses. These variables include: age, grade, site, gender, ethnicity, type of leukemia, staging, time spent in treatment, age at diagnosis, and whether the child is undergoing standard or experimental treatment.